A certain Gamarala had two daughters and two sons. During the time
when they were [there], the elder sister and the younger sister go
to the pansala to make flower offerings. Having gone, the younger
sister when making the flower offering wishes, "May I receive wealth,"
she says. The elder sister when making the flower offering wished,
"May I succeed in eating the bodies of the relatives whom there are
of mine." The younger sister does not mention the form in which she
wishes this wish.
When there is a little time [gone] in this manner, having spoken about
a marriage for the big daughter, the wedding was [made] ready. It
having taken place, they went calling her to another village. Having
gone, after a little time had gone the woman began to eat the men of
that city. Having eaten and eaten them, after the men of the city were
finished she ate also the husband who married [302] her. Belonging
to him a female child was born. Keeping the child, without anyone of
the city being with the woman she was alone.
Then her father came. That day night, having given him amply to eat
and drink,--there was a house [303] adjoining the house [303] in which
she is; in the direction of the house in which she is, between that
house and this house the wall was closed with coconut leaves,--in
the house she allowed her father who came, to sleep at night. Having
given it she said, "Father, at this village is much small-pox. The men
of this village and my husband were lost [by it]. Having been lost,
[while] so much time was passing you did not remember me. It happened
that you did not want me; you have wanted only younger sister. It is
good. What am I to do?" Having said [this] she wept a weeping. [304]
Thereupon the old man says, "No, daughter, I have been ill. Because
of it, indeed, I did not succeed in coming," he said.
In that manner having said false words, having been weeping and
weeping, she told him to sleep in the house beyond the house in which
she is, and having spread mats gave them. Having given them she said,
"Father, don't you be afraid; I also, so long a time, remained alone,
indeed, with this child," she said.
This woman also, having come away, lay down. [305] Having been lying
down, after her father went to sleep this woman brought a stick,
and having beaten and killed him, during that night ate that man also.
Owing to that man's being missing, his son came. Him, also, in that
very way she ate. His younger brother also came; him, also, she ate
in that manner.
Owing to the three persons, the persons who went, not coming, both
[the father's] wife and younger daughter went. When they went, says
this woman, "Ane! Mother, the men of this city, and father who came
from there also, and both younger brothers and all, died. Keeping
this girl, I am alone in this village. From anyone of you, at any time
whatever, there will not be assistance [for me]. I said you will come;
since yesterday I have been expecting you," and weeping she went in
front of her mother and younger sister.
Having gone and talked, she allowed the two persons to sit in another
house. Having allowed them to sit in it, she made ready and gave
food and drink, and having allowed those two persons to lie down,
she told them to go to sleep. She also having gone lay down.
What though she allowed this mother and daughter to sleep! In the mind
of that younger sister of hers is that formerly wished word when making
the flower offering. Owing to that circumstance she remained during
that day and night without sleep. Her mother, snoring and snoring,
was sleeping well.
Having heard the snoring, this human-flesh-eating woman, taking
also the men-killing party, came in order to kill and eat these
two persons. When [they were] coming there, that girl cried out,
"Elder sister, a dog came," she cried.
Then this girl having gone into the house, and having been in the
house, at the time of her coming half closing the door, said, "Ci,
Ci, dog!" and came crying out. In this way [the elder sister] came two
or three times. What of her coming! She was unable to eat them. [306]
In this manner the girl having been awake, at the watch when it becomes
light came calling her mother, and they began to run away. At the time
when they were going this human-flesh-eating Rakshasi awoke. Having
awoke, when she looked she got to know that these two persons have
gone. Ascertaining it, that woman, learning that they had done this
very trick, began to run [after them]. At the time when she was going
running she met with these two persons. When meeting with them that
girl cried out. While [she was] coming, when the big woman looked
[back], having seen that this one is running [after them] she became
stone there.
That girl began to run [off alone]. That Rakshasi having eaten the
point of the stone which her mother had become, when she looked that
girl was running off. Because she was unable to eat the stone she
bounded on the girl's path. When she was going bounding [on it], at the
root of an Indi (wild date) tree the door of a rock house opened. After
that, this Princess crept into the rock house [and the door closed
again]. After that, the Rakshasi who became a demon went away.
Then, when a King, the Ministers, and gentlemen (mahattayo) came
walking, [the King] said a four-line verse. When he was saying it,
this Princess who was in the rock house at the root of the Indi tree
also said a four-line verse. Then anger having come to the King, he
said, "There! Who is the person who said that four-line verse? Look
and seek," he said.
Thereupon, when the party sought and looked, anyone you like was not
there. The party having gone back, and come to the King, told him,
"O Lord, Your Majesty, we sought and looked everywhere; we indeed
are unable to find her," they said.
After that, the King said yet a four-line verse. To that also the
Princess, being in the rock, said a four-line verse. At that time,
also, he told the Ministers to seek; on that occasion, too, they
could not find her. On that occasion, also, having come to the King,
they said, "O Lord, Your Majesty, we this time also looked; we indeed
are unable to find her," they said.
After that, the King having gone near the spot where she said the
four-line verse, said yet also a four-line verse. When [he was]
saying it, having been very near under the ground she said a four-line
verse. Then the King asks, "Did a Yaka, or a Yaksani, or a Deity,
or a Devatawa (Godling) say that four-line verse? You must inform me
to-day," the King said.
Then the Princess who is in the rock house at the root of the Indi
tree, said, "I am not a Yaka, and not a Deity, and not a Devatawa; I
am a human being. Who speaks outside there I cannot ascertain. Because
of it you must tell me who it is," the Princess who is in the rock
house at the root of the Indi tree said.
Then the King says, "I am not a Yaka. Me indeed they call the King
of this city," the King said.
"If so, is the truth the contrary, is the truth the contrary?" three
times she asked.
The King also assured her of his kingly state. After that the stone
door of the rock house at the root of the Indi tree opened. After it
opened, having seen that the Queen was there, possessing a figure
endowed with much beauty, to the degree that he was unable to look
[at her], the King was minded to marry her. Having been so minded,
placing her on the back of the tusk elephant he went to the city at
which he stayed.
Having gone [there, and married her], when a little time was going
a child was conceived (uppannaya) in the Queen's womb. When it was
conceived, because the city in which she stayed was a solitary city
(tani nuwara) in that country there was no midwife-mother. Because of
it, when going through the middle of the jungle in order to proceed
to yet [another] city, [she and the King arrived at an abandoned city].
Having arrived, this King walked around the city, and when he looked
about, from one house, only, he saw that smoke goes. Having seen
it he went to the house, and when he looked a woman and the woman's
little girl were [there]. After that, this woman saw that the King
is going. Having seen him she asked at the King's hand, "Lord, where
is Your Majesty going?" she asked.
Then the King said, "The Queen of the rock house at the root of the
Indi tree having married me, she is with a child. For it there being
no midwife, I came to seek one," the King said.
Then the Rakshasa-goblin [307] got into her mind, "What of my
younger sister's being hidden that day indeed! To-day I shall eat
her." Thinking [this], this woman-Rakshasi said, "Maharaja, I well
know midwifery. Regarding that indeed, why will you go to another
place and become wearied?" she said.
The King having said, "It is good," on hearing her word went summoning
her.
On the very day she went, in the night pains seized the Queen of
the rock house at the root of the Indi tree. She went to the place
where they were seizing her. When she went that Queen got to know
that she came in order to eat her. Although ascertaining it she did
not mention it to the King.
Well then, [the Rakshasi] having come, during the night she bore
[a child]. After she bore [the child] that Rakshasi ate all the
after-birth (waedu-mas) that was there. The Queen did not tell that
also to the King.
Well then, having finished (nimadu wela) at the parturition house
(waedu-ge[yi]n), during that night [the Queen] went to sleep. After
she went to sleep, lifting up the child and the Queen with the bed
on which they were sleeping, this Rakshasi during the night began to
go away. When going this Queen awoke. Having awoke, when going under
trees she broke and broke dead sticks, and put them into the bed for
weight to be caused (bara-gaehenda). On her placing them [there],
when the bed is being made heavy the Rakshasi says, "It is good;
make it heavy. What of my being unable to eat you, you having crept
into the rock house at the root of the Indi tree!" Saying and saying,
"To-day indeed I shall eat you," disputing and disputing with her
she went along.
When she was going thus, a banyan branch had bent down to the path;
on the banyan branch this Queen hung. This Rakshasi went on, carrying
simply the bed. Having gone, having put the bed on the ground, when
she looked the Queen was not on the bed.
Afterwards she came bounding again very near this banyan tree. This
one ascertained that unless [the Queen] goes near the banyan tree,
she is unable to go by another place. Ascertaining it, and having
gone on and on among the branches and among the leaves in the tree,
saying and saying, "I will eat thee, I will eat thee," she began to
walk about. Although she is walking about that Queen is not visible
through the power of the resolution of the Gods.
Then, on the morning of the following day, when [the King] looked
this Queen is not [present]. Afterwards the King, together with the
Ministers, for the purpose of seeking the Queen having entered the
jungle forest wilderness, when going away to seek her, in the midst
of the forest, near a leafy banyan tree they heard a sound of a human
voice, "I will eat thee, I will eat thee."
When they look what affair this is, the King's Queen and the child
are in the tree. That Rakshasi having said [to herself] that this
King will cut her down, ran off through fear.
The King asked the royal Queen, "By what means came you here?" he
asked.
Then the Queen said, "The midwife-mother came lifting my child and
me with the bed, in order to eat me."
After that, the King having taken the Queen and gone, and having
sent her to the palace, made a bonfire (lit., fire-heap) in the
midst of the wilderness, and set fire to it. Having set fire to it,
when the smoke was going that Rakshasi having walked [there] asked,
"Regarding what circumstance is [this done]?" she asked.
When she was asking the King said, "The Queen of the rock house at
the root of the Indi tree having died, we are making the tomb for
her relics (da sohon)," he said.
As soon as he says it, [308] having said, "Ane! If I did not eat a
little flesh from my younger sister to-day, what am I living for?" she
sprang into the blazing heap; having sprung [into it] she died. The
King after that, together with the Queen, remained in happiness.
Because through fear on the day when the stone door at the root of
the Indi tree opened, she sprang into the house, and having been
there was married to the King, she kept the name, "The Queen of the
Rock House at the root of the Indi tree."
North-western Province.
This story contains references to several notions that are still
preserved in the villages, such as the fulfilment of wishes, either
silent or expressed aloud, when presenting offerings at the wiharas,
the protection of human beings by the personal intervention of guardian
deities, and the existence of internal apartments in certain rock
masses. A high rounded hill of gneiss is pointed out at Nirammulla,
in the North-western Province, [309] inside which King Vira-Bahu
is stated to have constructed a palace; and many flat rocks which
emit a hollow sound when trodden on are supposed to contain such an
apartment or "house" as that mentioned in this tale. The belief that a
human being may become a demon before death is, I think, not now held;
but in the Jataka story No. 321 (vol. iii, p. 48) a wicked boy became
a preta "while still alive."
Examples of the wishes made on presenting religious offerings are
to be seen in the Jataka stories Nos. 514, 527, and 531. In Cinq
Cents Contes et Apologues (Chavannes), vol. ii, p. 137, it is stated,
"Thus, when one pronounces a wish in the name of acts productive of
goodness that one has effected, the realisation depends solely on
the heart and good fortune; whatever may be the mark at which one
aims there is no one who does not attain it."
In Tales of the Sun (Mrs. H. Kingscote and Pandit Natesa Sastri),
p. 220, a girl who was being carried off by robbers while on her cot,
escaped like the Queen in this story.
In Tales of the Punjab (Mrs. F. A. Steel), p. 227, the same incident
is found, the person who escaped being the wife of a barber, whom
thieves were carrying off. In this case she did not first increase
the load on the bed by branches or fruits. (See also vol. i, p. 357.)
In Indian Fairy Tales (M. Stokes), p. 140, a Prince who was going in
search of a magic Bel fruit was instructed by a fakir how to take it,
and was warned that if he looked back while returning, he and his horse
would be turned into stone. This occurred, and nothing was then done
to them by the fairies and demons who were chasing them. Afterwards
the fakir found them, cut his little finger from the tip to the palm,
smeared the blood from it on the Prince's forehead and on the horse,
prayed to God, and they became alive again.
In the Katha Sarit Sagara (Tawney), vol. i, p. 210, the son of a
Brahmana smashed with a lighted piece of wood the skull of a person who
was being burnt in a funeral pyre in a cemetery. Some of the brain flew
out and entered his open mouth, and he immediately became a Rakshasa.
In the same work, vol. ii, p. 578, an Apsaras who was the wife of a
gambler was by a curse of Indra's turned into an image (apparently a
wooden or stone relief) on a pillar in a temple. The Jewish legend of
Lot's wife shows that the notion of such transformations, especially
when a person disobeyed an injunction not to look back, was of very
ancient date.
In Folk-Tales of Kashmir (Knowles), 2nd ed., pp. 191 ff., four Princes
were changed into stones by a Jogi, or Hindu ascetic. In a footnote,
p. 192, Mr. Knowles gives references to such metamorphoses elsewhere,
among them being the turning of a hunter into stone [310] owing to a
curse by Damayanti. Mr. Knowles states that many stones in Kashmir are
believed to be the petrified bodies of men who have been cursed. I do
not remember seeing or hearing of any instances of such petrifaction in
Ceylon, but we may gather from the story just given and that numbered
136 that such a belief is held there.
In the same work, pp. 401-403, there is an account of two Princes who
went in search of a wonderful bird, and were changed into stone when
they turned back in alarm. Their younger brother was more successful,
and got a pot of magic water, which when sprinkled on his brothers
and on many other stones lying on the ground, caused them to resume
their human state.
In Folk-Tales from an Eastern Forest (W. Skeat), p. 67, it is remarked
that the Malays believe that there were once numerous gigantic spirits
who could transform people whom they addressed by name into wood
or stone.
In the Preface to The Kathakoça, p. xiii, Mr. Tawney quoted
Dr. Bühler's words regarding the Jain belief in animism,--that souls
are to be found "in apparently lifeless masses, in stone, in clods of
earth, in drops of water, in fire and in wind"--and mentions that as
far as he knew, the Jains stand alone in this belief. Nevertheless,
in the cases of Ahalya and Rambha, and the Apsaras of the Katha
Sarit Sagara,--who, while she was in the form of an image or relief,
shed tears on seeing her husband,--as well as in the examples in
the other folk-tales, [311] the notion appears to be that the soul
or spirit continued to exist in the petrified body, which was ready
to return to its original state as soon as some necessary occurrence
took place, whether a sprinkling of charmed water which neutralised
the former spell, or the termination of a period fixed by a curse,
or otherwise. We can perhaps see further evidence of the existence of
the same belief in India and Ceylon in the stone statues of guardian
deities, such as Bhairava, Nagas, Yakshas, and Rakshasas, carved at
religious edifices; they, as well as the figures in the Euphrates
Valley and Egypt, appear to have been thought to act as protectors
because, although formed of stone, a soul existed in them, that is,
so far as evil spirits were concerned they were living stones, and
not mere scarecrows.
In Cinq Cents Contes et Apologues (Chavannes), vol. iii, p. 219,
there is an account of the death and burial of a Prince aged fifteen,
whose soul remained in his body afterwards. When a pine tree which had
been planted over the grave sent down a root that reached his heart,
the soul became alarmed, climbed up the root, and lodged among the
leaves of the tree. It had other adventures.
In the Arabian Nights (Lady Burton's ed., vol. i, p. 145), a lady
described her arrival at a city in which the King and Queen and all
the inhabitants had been transformed by Allah into black stones,
with the sole exception of the King's only son, a devout Muhammadan.
In vol. vi of the same work, p. 121, a man arrived at a great city in
which all the inhabitants, with the exception of the royal Princess,
had been changed into stone at the prayer of a Muhammadan Prophet. In
both these instances the petrified persons were not revived.
See also the Notes after the last story in vol. iii.
In Kaffir Folk-Lore (Theal), p. 36, a rock opened at a boy's request,
and he and his sister lived in it, leaving and returning at will. At
p. 83, some boys when chased by cannibals took refuge in a rock which
"a little man" turned into a hut; to the cannibals it was still a rock.
With regard to the remarks on the last page, two Sinhalese histories,
the Rajavaliya and Pujavaliya, give a legend which indicates a belief
that even the statues of guardian animals possessed souls. It is
recorded of King Mitta-Sena (A.D. 435-436) that on one occasion when
the state elephant was not ready for him when he had been worshipping
the Tooth-relic of Buddha, "the King became angry and asked whether
the great elephant image could not take him on its back. The elephant,
made of tile [brick] and mortar, approached the King, made him to
sit on his back, took the King to the city, placed him in the palace,
and went away" (Raj., Gunasekara's translation, p. 54).
It is probable that the figures of guardian animals or deities carved
only in relief, or even represented in paintings, may have been
thought to possess souls of their own--that is, to act protectively
as sentient beings.
It is merely a step forward to the idea in the Quatrain of wise old
Omar Khayyam:--
"I saw a busy potter by the way
Kneading with might and main a lump of clay;
And lo! the clay cried, 'Use me tenderly,
I was a man myself but yesterday!'"